A structural equation model of writing motivation, autonomy and self-regulation competence and creative thinking disposition

Writing is a communication tool that provides the transfer of the symbolic meaning structured in the mind with symbols. In order to use this communication tool successfully and effectively, skills such as creativity, self-regulation, autonomous learning, analysis-synthesis, sequencing, and classification are necessary. However, insufficiently developed writing skills create a vicious circle that prevents the development of writing skills, which causes students to feel inadequate and unsuccessful, to avoid writing, to experience reluctance and lack of motivation. On the other hand, writing motivation supports factors that increase an individual's writing success, such as willingness to write, attention, care, energy, self-efficacy perception before and during writing. Because of that, it is necessary to increase the motivation to write in order to support the production of creative texts and to ensure the development and habit of writing. On the other hand, it is considered important to support self-regulation competencies and perceptions of autonomy. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the writing motivation of secondary school students and their creative thinking dispositions through their writing autonomy and self-regulation competencies, and to explain these relationships by referring to the opinions of students and teachers. Explanatory sequential design was used in the research, which was carried out with mixed method. Students studying at secondary school level in Turkey in the 2021-2022 academic year constitute the population of the research. Because of accessibility, secondary school students studying in public schools in the city center of Elazig in the 2021-2022 academic year, which is included in this universe, were determined as the sub-population. In order to reflect the universe with the least error, 1728 secondary school students were reached from the sub-population. Since the sample from which the study group would be selected for one-to-one interviews is quite large and widely distributed, the qualitative study group has been determined. A school was determined by typical case sampling, which is one of the purposive sampling methods. Then, the study group was formed by using the stratified purposive and criterion sampling method. For the focus group interviews, the study group was determined by using the criterion sampling method, one of the purposive sampling methods, among the Turkish teachers in the schools where the quantitative research was carried out. In the collection of quantitative data, the Writing Autonomy Perception Scale, the Writing Self-Regulation Competence Scale and the Creative Thinking Disposition Scale developed by the researchers within the scope of this research, and the Writing Motivation Scale developed by Deniz and Demir (2019) were used. In order to collect qualitative data, a Semi-Structured One-to-One Interview Guide for secondary school students and a Focus Group Interview Guide for Turkish language teachers were developed by the researchers. While analyzing the data; participants' gender, grade levels, daily reading, regular exercise, sleep and eating habits, mostly preferred game environment, number of siblings, preschool education status, hobby and exercise types, sleep duration, preschool education year, mother and father education status, father's occupation and mother's working status were determined as continuous or discontinuous variables. Regression and structural equation modeling examined relationships between writing motivation, autonomy, self-regulation competence and creative thinking disposition. One-to-one and focus group interviews were conducted to explain the striking findings. In the interpretation process, it is aimed to define the phenomenon by using descriptive phenomenology, and to explain the phenomenon by using interpretive phenomenology. The codes were determined by content analysis of opinion and definitions were made with descriptive analysis. The findings obtained as a result of the analyzes performed by using SPSS, LISREL, AMOS and MAXQDA programs were interpreted based on the literature. As a result of the research, significant relationships were found between secondary school students' writing motivation, autonomy, self-regulation competencies and creative thinking dispositions. In this direction, the tested model was confirmed. It has been determined that writing motivation and autonomy indirectly affect creative thinking through writing self-regulation, with a moderate effect size. It has been determined that the direct effects within the model are significant in the strong effect size. It has been determined that students' writing motivations, autonomy, self-regulation competencies and creative thinking do not differ according to the type of sports they regularly do and their pre-school education period. On the other hand, it was determined that the writing motivations of the students differed slightly in favor of the secondary school students who had regular eating habits and were interested in at least one hobby, whose mothers were working and who received pre-school education. The other determination is that there is a statistically significant difference in the medium effect size in favor of the students who exercise regularly, read books daily, and mostly play games in the real environment. It has been determined that writing autonomy, self-regulation competence and creative thinking differ according to gender and regular sleeping habits; creative thinking differs according to the number of siblings, education level of parents, and father's profession; creative thinking disposition differs in small effect size compared to pre-school education. Non-repetitive structural models were confirmed in terms of gender, play environment, regular sleep, hobbies, exercise, and reading habits.